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Tile Floor Vs Laminate Floor

When thinking of a good spruce up to your home, one of the home improvement projects to consider is flooring. It is said that the floor, together with the walls, are great contributors to the ambiance of any room. So when having your floors re-made or when constructing a new home, it is crucial to be able to distinguish which flooring type is best for your home. And to be able to know which is better when talking about two of the most popular types, tile floor and laminate floor, below we lay out the qualities of each in various categories.

Style

Both laminate floor and tile floor boasts of an extremely extensive variety of texture and look. With any of the option, the designs that you could come up with is literally limited to one’s imagination. In the past, laminate was just a replicate of popular wood flooring; but technology has enabled it to realistically copy the look of natural stone and even tile. Tiles that are made to look like marble and other more expensive stone flooring types can fool even experts on first glance. There are also certain types of tile that has been engineered to closely resemble wood.

Installation

Because it has been manufactured in smaller sections with a design integrated with an interlock system, laminate floor is much easier to install through a method known as floating installation. On the contrary, many experts agree that one of the hardest to install flooring is ceramic tile floor which, together with other types of tile is continually coming in much larger sizes.

Maintenance and Flexibility

Laminate and tile are easy to clean, without any need to oil, refinish or wax. Though both can resist fading due to sunlight, stain and dirt; laminate is not totally resistant to moisture and excessive amounts could lead to damage in its inner core, greatly affecting its overall performance.

A tile floor is considered to be one of the most flexible and longest lasting flooring type that can be ideal to use anywhere in the house, whether indoors or outdoors. Their durable surfaces which are resistant to almost all damaging elements can stand the heavy traffic, wear, and even scratches. It is best used in bathrooms and kitchens as they are not just totally resistant to spills and moisture but also prevents growth of molds and bacteria.

Laminate also possess some level of durability but is not as tough as tile. It can be scratched by dragging heavy furniture and large dogs. The use of this type of flooring is limited to bedrooms, family rooms, dens, dining areas, and living rooms.